Sunday, February 12, 2017

The Comfort of Familiarity

It’s the middle of winter. There’ve
been snowstorms in the Northeast, downpours in California, and plenty of gray
sky most everyplace else. So today, I feel
like hunkering down under a blanket and ignoring the world for as many hours as
I can. Comfort food in the Crockpot, comfort blaze in the fireplace, comfort
book in my hand.

And what makes a book the written
equivalent of homemade chicken noodle soup? For me, it’s familiarity. Give
me a series character, someone I know from previous books, and I’m happy.

I know what I’m going to get when
I sit down to read, and I’m not disappointed. I might be shocked, or saddened,
or horrified by what happens in the story. But I’m not let down because my old friend
the character is there, just as I’ve come to expect.

When I open up a Miss Marple
novel, I know exactly what I’ll get – a nosy old lady who isn’t taken seriously
until she solves the murder. Same with a Jack Reacher thriller – he’s a loner
with a strong moral code who constantly finds himself in dangerous
situations. Marple doesn’t start bare-knuckle street brawls, and Reacher doesn’t
go sniffing around garden parties. And I know that, because I know them as characters.

What characters do you know well and have followed from book to book? Who's your favorite?